"I could easily devour Hippogriff!"
George, whose eyes were practically glowing with hunger, stuffed food into his mouth.
"Mmm..."
Fred wasn't much better off; before he could even finish speaking, he was silenced by the food.
The two of them forgot all about talking and wolfed down their food for a while before they could barely suppress their hunger.
After slowing down their eating, they took out the booklet that Silan had given them and read it while they ate.
"Wait, leave a copy for Silan... Oh, he's here." Fred waved to Silan had just woken up.
"Come and eat something, Silan, you must be starving."
Seeing George and Fred with roasted lamb chops in one hand and Alchemy booklet in the other, Silan reminded them, "When you're resting, just rest properly. There's no need to eat and read at the same time."
Be careful of indigestion.
George chewed and swallowed the roasted lamb chop in his mouth, grinning as he said, "You're the last person who has the right to say that."
"You only slept four hours again today," Fred picked up where George left off. "If this were at our house, Mom would probably think you were sick."
At this point, the two shook their heads and sighed simultaneously.
"I really don't know where you get so much energy."
Since Christmas, Silan has only been sleeping four hours a day, and this has been going on for quite some time.
At first, George and Fred were worried, thinking that Silan was sick or just putting on a brave face, and kept advising him to rest more.
They were relieved to find that although Silan slept little, she was in good spirits and showed no signs of sleep deprivation.
They could only attribute this to Silan's exceptional talent and boundless energy.
Silan sat down at the table, casually took some food from her plate, and ate slowly.
After the three finished their meal, they opened the package sent by Nicolas Flamel.
Strangely, besides the reply, there was also a magpie with blue feathers inside.
George reached out and touched the magpie's head, finding its feathers very soft and even warm to the touch.
"Alive? But why isn't it moving?"
"Let's read the letter first," Fred shrugged.
Silan opened the reply letter.
The letter contained only a brief greeting before immediately moving on to the topic of Alchemy.
"What I must say is that your idea is quite interesting. A boundless imagination is indispensable for Alchemy. But unfortunately, your idea is not feasible."
"Animals have their own thoughts and biological instincts, and they are completely different from humans. Even if you create Control Crystal Core that is 100 times more complex and sophisticated than the current one, it will still be very difficult to completely control them."
"This is also a very dangerous idea. If used to control human wizards, I think its harm would be no less than that of the Imperius Curse."
Seeing this, George and Fred were both somewhat disappointed, but they could understand.
"If it really works to the point of controlling human wizards, I'll definitely give it a try with Dumbledore."
Fred leaned back in his chair, looked up at the ceiling, and cracked a joke in an attempt to dispel the somber mood.
"Then I'll take control of him, fire Lockhart, and oh, and Snape too."
"Then I'll have him give me a special contribution award," George said with a chuckle.
Silan also felt some regret.
It seems I underestimated the situation.
Animals are not puppets; they have their own thought processes and behavioral logic, making them indeed difficult to completely control.
Even Imperius Curse will have its effectiveness greatly reduced due to the opponent's unwavering will.
The logic behind these two is actually consistent.
"Am I going to miss out on the Basilisk?" Silan was somewhat unwilling.
Shaking her head, Silan continued reading the letter.
"However, while complete control is impossible, some influence can be exerted on animals to affect their behavior."
"For example, you could follow the existing approach and create a crystal core that can release powerful energy in an instant, and implant it into an animal's body."
"Then, by controlling the wand and releasing energy, one can briefly influence or disrupt the animal's thoughts and actions."
"Given sufficient energy, it can even induce coma and paralysis in animals. The specific design concept is as follows..."
In the following sections, Nicolas Flamel elaborates on the design concept of the crystal nucleus.
Overall, Silan felt that it was simpler than the crystal cores she had made before.
After all, it's just a simple device that receives signals and releases energy.
"This is something we can give a try," Silan thought.
As long as the crystal core can be used to control or reduce the Basilisk's aggression, I have plenty of time and patience to slowly train it.
When the time comes, we'll create a crystal core that can release strong energy; if it misbehaves, we'll just electrocute it.
If you can't understand human language, I do know a little magic.
"I need to find a chance to stuff the crystal core into the Basilisk..." Silan muttered to himself.
George and Fred were playing with the bird nearby.
Fred poked the magpie's belly and turned to say, "It feels great, just like the real thing. George, you try it."
"This is probably an alchemical creation," George said, stroking the magpie's tail. "Could it have been made by Nicolas Flamel himself?"
"That's not surprising then," Fred said, suddenly realizing.
Silan picked up the attached page of the reply, glanced at it, and explained.
"Mr. Flamel used the crystal cores we sent him to make a small toy. Just like a remote-controlled car, it can be controlled with a magic wand."
As Silan spoke, she waved her wand, and the magpie, which had been somewhat dazed, instantly came to life.
It hopped twice, turned its round little head, flapped its wings, and took flight.
As it flew, it sang operatic tunes.
Judging from the melody, it's probably the overture from Rossini's opera "The Thieving Magpie".
This design likely reflects Nicolas Flamel's own interests.
George and Fred's eyes followed the magpie flying around the room, their faces showing surprise and delight.
"This is so much fun!"
Silan activated her Wizard's Eye and carefully observed the magpie circling in the air.
He could clearly see that the magpie had no internal organs, and inside its body was only a familiar crystal core and countless complex magic circuits.
"It seems our previous research wasn't in vain."
Silan withdrew her gaze, smiled, and said, "The magpie's shell is an alchemical product, and its interior contains the crystal core we created earlier, just as you initially thought."
"If... I mean, if..."
Fred stroked his chin thoughtfully. "If we could create other alchemical shells, and then pair them with a Control Crystal Core, wouldn't we be able to create other things? For example..."
"Like Dragon!" George excitedly blurted out.
They often heard Charlie Weasley talk about Dragon, and of all the Magical Creatures, Dragon were their favorite.
"Obviously." Silan nodded.
"However, it's very difficult. There are at least a hundred different kinds of Ancient Runes on just this little magpie. But it is indeed a very good research direction. You can give it a try."
"I must learn Alchemy immediately!" George and Fred said with firm determination.
Silan used her wand to control the magpie to fly down. "Then this one is for you."
George and Fred were overjoyed and excitedly went to investigate.
Watching their retreating figures, Silan thought to herself, "Maybe they'll make all sorts of alchemical golems later; that's something to look forward to."
The snowstorm has stopped, and the Christmas holiday is over.
... Divider Line...
Author's note. "I could eat Hippogriff!" is a wizard's idiom, meaning extremely hungry and capable of eating a great deal.